“Still, give them to me young, hungry, and stupid. And in no time, I will make them rich.” – The Wolf of Wall Street
The Wolf of Wall Street, a film about the rise and fall of Jordan Belfort and the greed of Wall Street. Scorsese brought this story to life with an A list cast and the magic that only Marty can bring the big screen. Enjoy these behind the scenes facts about The Wolf of Wall Street.
The Wolf of Wall Street Facts
1. Jonah Hill’s stubbornness
While casting for Donnie Azoff, Martin Scorsese requested a meeting with Jonah Hill, but Jonah insisted on auditioning for the part. It was the actor’s first audition in about six years.
2. Ditch the robe
Originally, Martin Scorsese offered
to wear a robe in the seduction scene between her and Leonardo DiCaprio, but she insisted on doing it nude (a first in her career) to stay true to her character, saying: “The whole point of Naomi is that her body is her only form of currency in this world.”
3. All about the Benjamins
The Wolf of Wall Street grossed $392 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of Scorsese’s career so far.
4. Wait, what?
Martin Scorsese admitted that some of the editing in the film was intentionally flawed. The scenes where characters get high, and then the following 'come down' scenes lack logical flow and continuity.
5. Mmm, Mmm
The scene with Matthew McConaughey’s chest beating and humming was actually improvised; it’s a bit the actor performs as a warm-up before filming. Leonardo DiCaprio liked the idea so much, he insisted it’d be included in the film.
6. Pay to play
Leonardo DiCaprio was paid $25 million for his role in the film, which was a quarter of the overall budget.
7. Too much sexy time
The Wolf of Wall Street was banned in 5 countries because of its sexual content.
8. Keeping it legal
The actors in the film were actually snorting crushed up Vitamin B tablets in scenes involving cocaine.
9. Explain that one to the nurse
Jonah Hill eventually had to be hospitalized with bronchitis from snorting too much Vitamin B for his scenes.
10. You just got served
We have all seen the dance… The Leo DiCaprio dance that turned into an amazing GIF. Well, that was done on the spot and involved some moves the actor concocted over the years (since he used to be an inspiring break-dancer, y’all).
11. The sticky ham
The scene where Jordan is on Quaaludes allegedly took 70 takes, because the ham would not stick to DiCaprio’s face. They ended up flicking the ham off the spoon and using some KY jelly to make it sticky enough for pieces to stay on his face.
12. Better in theory...
Margot Robbie confessed that the scene where she and Leo DiCaprio are having sex on a bed covered in money was quite uncomfortable, since the fake bills gave her multiple paper cuts on her back.
13. The Kiss
The scene where DiCaprio had to kiss Joanna Lumley (Aunt Emma) allegedly took 27 takes, because Leo was so nervous.
14. Fancy footwork
The scene where DiCaprio (who played Jordan) tries to get into his car on quaaludes was improvised. Leo had an idea to open the car with his foot – throwing out his back in the process – and was only able to do just the one take. The idea was worth it though.
15. Do what feels right
Not only were some major moments in the film improvised, the majority of the movie was off the script – something Martin Scorsese heavily encourages.
16. Tips from the pro
The real-life Jordan Belfort coached Leo DiCaprio on his mannerisms. He focused on how Leo should behave on Quaaludes and his impaired confrontation with Donnie Porush.
17. Scorsese can’t get enough of Leo
This film was Scorsese’s fifth collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio.
18. Cat's got your teeth
Jonah Hill was in a bit of a pickle when he put his teeth in to play Donnie, because he could not kick a very audible lisp. To fix it, Hill spent several hours calling various businesses and talking various sales and support people until the lisp was gone.
19. Wanting to work with one of the greats
Jonah Hill wanted to work with Martin Scorsese so badly, that he took the S.A.G. minimum salary of $60,000.
20. The F word
There is a total of 569 variations of the f-word used in the film, with a grand sum of 680 swear words in total.
21. The real Jordan
Jordan Belfort makes a brief appearance in the film to introduce his cinematic counterpart Leonardo DiCaprio. Belfort served 22 months in prison for stock fraud and has now become a motivational speaker.
22. Winning
Leonardo DiCaprio won the rights to Belfort’s memoir in a bidding war against Brad Pitt. It then took several years to get around the conflicts between studios to finally get Scorsese on board.
23. The island in the middle
The scene where Jordan confronts Donnie while high on Quaaludes, the island in the kitchen was initially considered a major inconvenience. Since the filming took place in an actual house, they couldn’t remove it, but DiCaprio used it to his advantage – as it added another obstacle for the impaired Jordan Belfort to navigate.
24. No fakers here
In the fight scene between Brad and Donnie, Jon Bernthal actually punched Jonah Hill for real. In fact, he punched him so hard that Hill’s prosthetic teeth split and fell out of his mouth. Scorsese then filmed the actor’s swelling face for the movie.
25. Anything for the role
Kenneth Choi gained about 25 pounds for his role as Chester Ming, in case you thought it was just stress.
26. The wedding party
When Jordan (DiCaprio) is chatting with the FBI agents on his yacht, he hands them a list of his wedding guests, but the names on that list are actually of the film’s crew.
27. The golden moment
Jonah Hill wanted to swallow a real goldfish for one of the scenes because he wanted it to be authentic, but wasn’t permitted due to regulations. To get around the rules, there were three goldfish handlers on the set and Hill could only keep the fish in his mouth for three seconds, before taking it out and putting it back in the water.
28. Surprise, surprise
In the scene where Donnie walks into the party with his manhood exposed, Jonah Hill is actually wearing a prosthetic penis. The reaction of the actors is totally genuine.